My performances, which are almost all intended to be HIP,3 include purely music performances (where I may also sing) as well as illustrated or narrated performances and lecture/demonstrations that introduce the qin/guqin. They include qin music that could be divided chronologically into five groups:4

By far the bulk of my repertoire is melodies I have reconstructed from Ming dynasty publications. Thus the music for most programs I have presented, or for my part of most other programs in which I have participated, could be categorized simply as Ming dynasty. Here, however, the focus is on themes (or sub-categories) within this repertoire. The chart above has links to some of these themes. Further themes are also mentioned below, beginning with such natural programs as:

The traditional environments for playing qin were alone, for a friend, or at a gathering where participants would also appreciate (or do) calligraphy, painting or other activities popular amongst literati.19 Modern technology allows such multi-media events to be done as performances. At a basic level, a display of appropriate art work can enhance the environment for introducing the qin.

Xiao HujiaAn early theme and some archaic finger technique indications.

The latter melodies actually survive only from from the earliest published handbook (Shen Qi Mi Pu, 1425): its compiler wrote that Folio 1 of his handbook included melodies so old he couldn't find anyone still playing them. Other melodies here also have both early attributions and aspects of the tablature and music itself that seem early. Other than this there are only a few short melodies and modal preludes dating perhaps from the 12th or early 13th c.
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17Qin and shakuhachi (古琴與日本尺八)
See The Guqin in Japan. The qin was brought to Japan over 1,000 years ago, together with the 箏 zheng. However, whereas the zheng became localized as the koto, inheriting some characterisitics of qin aesthetic, the qin itself remained foreign, played mostly by Sinophiles. As a result, and because of its association with meditation, some people say the shakuhachi end blown flute is the Japanese counterpart of the qin. On the other hand its connection to Buddhism is much stronger than that of the qin, which is more associated with Confucian and Daoist
self-cultivation.
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18Qin and komungo (古琴與韓國玄琴)
See The Guqin in Korea. In Korea the guqin was rarely played. Instead, according to tradition, in early days Koreans invented a new instrument in imitation of the qin, called it a "black crane zither" (shorted to "black zither", i.e., komungo), then created repertoire for it. Korean literati are said to have played this music, but never developed a method for writing it down, hence the early repertoire was lost. As a result the repertoire played by the Korean Confucian scholars apparently came to consist of solo komungo music extracted from the Korean court music repertoire.
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